One Chain, Four Lenses

I’ve been very intentional about sticking to a timeline, with the exception of the overlap between how global disruptions forced us to adapt through unforeseeable situations and how we had to take a firm stand in defending the vulnerable during that stretch. My goal in following that step-by-step process was to emphasize how each adversity, regardless of how big or small it is in the grand scheme of things, can serve as preparation for all that will inevitably follow. That said, that preparation only comes when we assume full responsibility for identifying and nurturing any possible seed hidden within those adversities.

Looking back to my early teens, the things that seemed toughest then were really insignificant. Without those experiences, though, I may have never developed the foundational discipline and responsibility that helped me begin measuring profitability and productivity in the roles I held in my early and mid 20s. Those early stumbles planted the first seeds, even though it took me a few years to understand what to do with them. Scarcity through the first several years of our marriage forced us to develop the clear purpose behind what we were doing each day then and for each step we’d take moving forward. Without closely held core values, ones we’ve continued honing over the last three decades, any given career leap or institutional battle could have knocked us off track. And had we not built incredibly strong relationships along the way, personally and professionally, any one of the most difficult situations we’ve faced over the last decade would have likely put us out of business - or worse. Each step has truly been preparation for the next. Profitability, purpose, values, and relationships are one chain, not four separate topics.

Adversity taught the measurable traits, clarified purpose, tested values, and refined relationships. Remove any one of those and the harvest fails. Even then, though, none of those things happen automatically. All too often, we don’t recognize the seed while we’re fighting through the adversity. Sometimes we can identify it shortly after, but sometimes finding that seeds occurs years later; that’s certainly been the case for me. In complete transparency, that was usually because I wasn’t looking hard enough or hadn’t learned enough to know what to look for. Thankfully, there’s rarely an expiration date on what we can learn when we’re willing to dig back through a bad situation.

Through this process, we’ve looked (repeatedly) at the eleven leadership attributes Napoleon Hill shared in Think and Grow Rich all the way back in 1937. My hope in hitting on each as I have was to provide you with one toolkit for taking full advantage of the equal or greater benefit that may still be hidden in your bad situations. We’ll look at the toolkit in more detail next. Before we do, think about which of the four lenses I’ve listed here - profitability, purpose, values, and relationships - is the strongest in your life right now, and which one you’ve been treating as optional.